Mention of shooter's ethnicity unnecessary
description: Apr 30 2007 Re: "CUPD Assesses Campus Safety," News, April 18 To the Editor: Thank you for the article "CUPD Assesses Campus Safety." In some ways, it made me feel a little bit safer knowing about the heightened security. However, it made me feel uneasy and unsafe at the same time after reading about the last shooting that occurred at Cornell. As a Korean-American, I have felt shame, sadness, pity, anger and fear about sharing the same ethnicity as the shooter at Virginia Tech. In a society where racial inequalities and stereotypes still very much exist, I feared for what this one young Korean-American student may have done for our future race relations here in the U.S. My fear was shared by many others, where Korean parents took their children home from VTech for fear of racial backlash. Thus, I strongly believe that your reference to the last shooting at Cornell was inappropriate and uncalled for. Although you did not specifically say that Kim, the shooter at Cornell, was Korean, it can easily be implied just by his name. I believe that your mention of this one horrific incidence in which the shooter just happened to be Korean only further aggravates the very sensitive issue of race. I believe that you should have referenced the incidence at Cornell without giving names of those involved, to prevent any kind of potentially dangerous stereotypes and consequences that it may have on other Korean-Americans around campus. Rachel Baek '07 -- Original Source: Cornell Daily Sun - April 30, 2007
creator: Rachel Baek
date: 2007-07-10
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Jonny Lieberman <jdl46@cornell.edu>, <lieberman.jonny@gmail.com>
language: eng

Big Red Flag
description: By Claire Readhead Apr 30 2007 The paradox of mental health services, generally, hovers around the issue of consent. Most mental health services require voluntary participation from the patient, except in extreme cases. Thus, the question becomes, how can someone suffering from mental illness possess the wherewithal to seek help? Even those who are not clinically ill, but just unstable, may feel that the stigma attached to mental health services is a huge repellent. In light of the Virginia Tech Massacre, all educational institutions should begin to reconsider old notions surrounding mental health and seek to make services more accessible to students. Issues of mental health are sorely misunderstood in this country, and not all medications and treatments are covered under insurance — emphasizing the cultural and political neglect of these matters. The fact that Cho Seung-Hui could fall through the cracks of a well-structured institution, such as a university, should be a Big Red Flag to all academic administrators to seriously address issues surrounding counseling services. The reality is that most students suffering from mental health related problems will not turn into Cho; however, they may fall through the cracks without such a "bang," if you will. Counseling services at universities should not be reserved for the deeply troubled, but should be open and generally administered like the flu shot. Clearly, just as with the flu shot, counseling must be voluntary on the part of the students. Students should feel free to visit a counselor without fear of censure from peers. Hmmm ... this isn't so easy. In terms of Gannett specifically, the first item of business should be that of privacy. For instance, I went in for a routine physical, and as I was walking away from the counter, the lady yelled out, "Oh by the way do you want to be tested for HIV today?!?!?!?" Wow, now that everyone in the lobby is staring at me, I really feel comfortable answering that question. I …
creator: Claire Readhead
publisher: Cornell Daily Sun
date: 2007-07-10
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Jonny Lieberman <jdl46@cornell.edu>, <lieberman.jonny@gmail.com>
language: eng

Idealism v. Cho
description: By Jeremy Siegman Apr 27 2007 Cosmology on the Rocks It always feels weird swallowing real-world events like the Virginia Tech massacre in the hazy cosmopolitanism of Uris Library. Cornell and its libraries, after all, are fleeing from the bustling Manhattans, from the culture of CNN and even the busy humming of our own town. It feels like fleeing from all that is extremist, religious or vulgar. And the Promised Land is the Hill, which, legend has it, is populated by a super-strong Atlas who can not only pick up the planet, but also stop it from warming too, and just foster utopia in general, all at the reasonable rate of only $40,000 a year (tax-free if you use Big Red Bucks!). This detached cosmopolitan Cornell is proud, richly endowed, but can be shaken. When an English major murders 32 people at a university, our university shakes. Finally, something has hit home; but utopianism hits back. Our president responds in the eloquent universalism we know best: "We are one; one community, one people, one planet." This is me responding, stuck in Uris Library because it's raining outside; I'm stuck, too, in this Skortonian universalism, as I consider the murderer, his condition and ours too. "Three Pro-Gun Bills Pending in Nevada Legislature!" exclaims a headline from NRA.org. You should press your senators to pass them, urges this National Rifle Association writer, so people can have the freedom to not register their handguns! Gun activists argue that Cho Seung-Hui should have been lawfully prevented from buying his .22-caliber and 9mm guns because of his mental illness. They also argue that gun-control laws should be toned down! This is utterly strange, this exaltation of the Second Amendment at a time like this. Considered in a vacuum, there's really nothing wrong with the right to bear arms. But when the bald eagle of America is made to hold rifles in its talons (the NRA logo) — a powerful symbol is crafted. It speaks loudly for a lot of Americans. The symbolic exa…
creator: Jeremy Siegman
publisher: Cornell Daily Sun
date: 2007-07-10
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Jonny Lieberman <jdl46@cornell.edu>, <lieberman.jonny@gmail.com>
language: eng

CUPD Assesses Campus Safety
description: By Sarah Singer Sun City Editor Apr 18 2007 Cornell responds to recent tragedy at Virginia Tech Yesterday, several university officials hosted a media call-in where they discussed safety and security on the Cornell campus in the aftermath of Monday's shooting at Virginia Polytechnical Institute. The participants were Curt Ostrander, chief of Cornell University Police, Greg Eells, director of counseling and psychological services for Gannett, Tim Marchall, director of mental health initiatives for Gannett and Tommy Bruce, vice president of University communications. Although the tragedy in Virginia did not pose an immediate threat to Cornell's safety, Eells said he had "some concerns" about the safety of all college campuses during this frightening time. "Traumas like this can make students' own problems more clear to them," he said. "We have heightened the police presence around residential areas," said Ostrander, "and we are being especially attentive to all of campus as well." Although the University is in a heightened state of security, according to Ostrander, anticipating the exact measures it would take if faced with a crisis situation similar to Virginia Tech's is difficult, but confidently stated, "we have the plans and procedures in place to deal with situations like this," he said. "We would dispatch a multiple officer response," he continued. Ostrander said that the CUPD "assesses the campus every six months" to ensure its high level of safety for students. He also said that there are "training programs in place for resident hall directors on what to do in dangerous situations. We can track who enters and leaves the dorms, and can implement a lockdown if necessary," he said. This effort to maintain a high level of security on campus extends beyond police efforts. Eells emphasized a number of educational initiatives that involve "working with residence halls directors to identify students and reach out to students if they are struggling," he said. He could …
creator: Sarah Singer
date: 2007-07-10
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Jonny Lieberman <jdl46@cornell.edu>, <lieberman.jonny@gmail.com>
language: eng

NBC, MySpace and V.T.
description: By Behzad Varamini Apr 25 2007 Gain Through Loss Hours after students cowered behind desks and played dead in hopes that Virginia Tech killer Cho Seung-Hui would spare their lives, minutes after the body count was made public and started to climb, it took only seconds for the gluttonous demons in dark corners of men's souls to perk up and devise a plan on how to best capitalize on a tragic story that even satisfied the devil himself. Atheists and evangelicals, gun-toters and arms opposers, and other talking heads with punches to throw delayed healing by using the backdrop of the tragic killings to guilefully push their own agendas. Amidst these vultures, perhaps the most flagrant exploiter of the catastrophe was NBC News, who decided to air self-taken photographs and a homemade video of Cho multiple times over national airwaves, just two days after the events took place and literally hours after the videos were received. In between the first and second set of murders last Monday, April 16, the killer put the finishing touches on the video and overnighted it, along with a series of photographs, to NBC News headquarters. Soon after the tapes of wrath aired, NBC President Steve Capus made a statement assuring Americans that the network struggled with the decision to release the videos. In the end, however, NBC pinned their collective conscious into submission and granted the psychotic killer a public posthumous forum, completing the final phase of Cho's demonic plan. Just a quick look at the pictures and videos makes Capus' motives clear. Stamped into the top-left corner of the video and every still of Cho is the NBC news logo — peacock and all. NBC News anchor Brian Williams admitted in a later interview that airing even part of the video would promise the killer the martyrdom he hoped to achieve. In the name of profit, NBC served as an instrumental accomplice, helping make Cho's plan come to complete fruition and allowing the friends and families of the victims the…
creator: Behzad Varamini
date: 2007-07-10
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Jonny Lieberman <jdl46@cornell.edu>, <lieberman.jonny@gmail.com>
language: eng

Dangerous People?
description: By Ari Rabkin Apr 26 2007 Between the Lines One of the striking facts about the Virginia Tech shootings was how predictable the murderer's identity was. The authorities knew long before his rampage that Cho Seung-Hui was not merely "troubled," but dangerous. A court had ruled two years previously that he posed an "imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness." As a result, he was civilly committed to an outpatient mental-health clinic. He checked out the next day, however, without being effectively treated. In the wake of the shootings, many commentators have decried the gradual decline in involuntary commitment to mental health facilities. The courts, so the thinking goes, should have been more aggressive, and should have committed Cho to an inpatient facility, and not released him until he was judged to be no longer dangerous. But this sort of confinement poses awkward questions. The mentally ill are confined — locked up — not because they have done anything wrong, but because they might be dangerous in the future. Sun Podcast: A podcast is available for this column. Click here to listen to or to download it.Sun Podcast: A podcast is available for this column. Click here to listen to or to download it.To lock people up, not because they are criminals, but because they are dangerous, subverts many of our normal notions of due process. To go free, a criminal defendant needs to rebut a factual allegation; he needs to show that he didn't commit a particular act. A prisoner confined for being dangerous, however, is in a much more precarious position. "Danger" cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury of laymen, but can only be assessed by expert judgment. To avoid making such judgments, American civil law does not have a general category of "dangerous persons" other than the mentally ill. Sane individuals can normally be imprisoned only after a criminal conviction, for a crime they have already committed. Civil confinement, as it is called, i…
creator: Ari Rabkin
date: 2007-07-10
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Jonny Lieberman <jdl46@cornell.edu>, <lieberman.jonny@gmail.com>
language: eng

Obituary: Former APL Staff Member Among Virginia Tech Shooting Victims
description: Kevin Granata, who began his professional career at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, was among those killed in the Virginia Tech shootings on April 16. A professor of engineering science and mechanics, he was considered one of the nation's top researchers working on movement dynamics in cerebral palsy. He was 45. Granata joined the Lab in 1986 and worked on low-frequency performance issues for long towed arrays in the former Submarine Technology Department (now the National Security Technology Department). His initial work helped to form the justification for the series of Doppler signal suppression experiments that were conducted by APL in 1990 and 1991. He was very interested in biomechanics and left the Lab in 1989 to obtain a PhD in biomechanics from Ohio State. "He was a bright young guy who came here from school, had a lot of energy and was very capable," Joseph S. Lombardo, his APL supervisor and now director of the Lab's Center of Excellence in Public Health and Informatics, told The Baltimore Sun. "Kevin had a very good scientific background and was able to do a substantial level of analysis." Granata, who had received his bachelor's degree in engineering physics and electrical engineering from Ohio State and master's in physics from Purdue, went on to an esteemed career in teaching and research, first at the University of Virginia and then at Virginia Tech. He lectured nationally and internationally and had numerous publications and research grants. A runner and cyclist, he enjoyed participating in biathlons and triathlons. He also loved reading and coaching his sons' lacrosse teams. Survivors include his wife, Linda; two sons, Alex and Eric; a daughter, Ellen; and his parents, Mildred and Joseph Granata. Memorials can be made to the Kevin P. Granata Memorial Trust, 1872 Pratt Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24068. -- Original Source: Johns Hopkins Gazette - April 23, 2007
creator: JHU Gazette Staff Member
date: 2007-07-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Lois Perschetz <lwp@jhu.edu>
language: eng

Virginia Tech tragedy unites VU community
description: by Joan Brasher News of the events of April 16, 2007 - a violent shooting on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Va., that resulted in the deaths of 33 students and faculty members - sent chills down the spines of all within earshot of a television, radio or the Internet. University students, faculty and staff across the nation and the world watched the media coverage in stunned silence, as the death toll escalated and the convoluted details slowly became clear. For many students, the first reaction to the shocking event was fear, said Vanderbilt Student Government Association President Cara Bilotta, a junior. "As you watch the tragedy unfold on TV, you cannot help but think, 'Could this happen here?'" Bilotta said. "Your initial reaction is fear of the unknown. The question is, could any university really prevent an incident like Virginia Tech? The good news is that Vanderbilt has always taken a proactive approach to security." University communities nationwide, even those with no direct relationship to the victims, were hard hit, and campus administrators quickly convened not only to reach out to Virginia Tech's faculty, staff and students, but to re-evaluate crisis preparedness on their respective campuses. Chancellor Gordon Gee communicated with the Vanderbilt community via e-mail shortly after the shooting, stating, "Words fail to encompass a calamity of such magnitude. At this raw stage, we can offer our attention, our consideration and our sympathy. We respond with the best part of ourselves." He encouraged students to take advantage of the university's psychological counseling services, seek out religious life groups or turn to resident advisers for support. All Faiths Chapel on the first floor of Vanderbilt Divinity School was made available for reflection, meditation and prayer. Two days after the shooting, a candlelight vigil was held at Benton Chapel. Vanderbilt chaplains, as well as representatives from Tennessee State University, Belmont University…
creator: Joan Brasher
date: 2007-07-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Joan Brasher <joan.brasher@vanderbilt.edu>
language: eng

Message Book from Vanderbilt to VT
description: Members of the Vanderbilt community expressed their support for Virginia Tech by signing a leather-bound message book emblazoned with the Vanderbilt seal, a gift for Virginia Tech's student government organization. Photo by Steve Green
creator: Steve Green
publisher: Vanderbilt University Daily Register
date: 2007-07-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Joan Brasher <joan.brasher@vanderbilt.edu>
language: eng

Vigil for VT at Vanderbilt
description: Vigil draws mourners for Va. Tech tragedy A memorial and candlelight service for the students and faculty slain or inured during the April 16 shooting at Virginia Tech was held April 18 at Benton Chapel. Pictured (l-r) are Virginia Tech Alumna Kathy Boyer and Vanderbilt's Presbyterian campus minister Jennifer Fouse. The event was sponsored by the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association. Donations for the families of those affected by the tragedy may be made to the Virginia Tech Foundation, University Development, 902 Prices Fork Road (0336), Blacksburg, VA 24061.
creator: Neil Brake
publisher: Vanderbilt University Daily Register
date: 2007-07-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Joan Brasher <joan.brasher@vanderbilt.edu>
language: eng

Wear orange and maroon today for Va. Tech
description: Members of the Vanderbilt community are encouraged to wear orange and maroon today to honor those killed in the tragic events on the Virginia Tech campus. Commemorative ribbons will be distributed on the Sarratt Promenade from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. At noon, a moment of silence will be observed across campus as the Kirkland Hall bell toll once for each of the victims of the shooting. Members of the Vanderbilt community are encouraged to sign a bound leather volume with a Vanderbilt University seal, located at the Sarratt desk. It will be sent to the Virginia Tech Student Government. For times when it will be available to be signed, click here. Vanderbilt Student Government is sponsoring the campus-wide orange and maroon day. -- Original Source: Vanderbilt Daily Register - April 19, 2007
creator: Vanderbilt Staff Member
date: 2007-07-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Joan Brasher <joan.brasher@vanderbilt.edu>
language: eng

Our Opinion: Gun Control
description: Emory's Campus No Place For Guns Issue date: 5/1/07 Section: Editorials The recent controversy concerning funding for a College Republicans' trip to a shooting range has brought the issues of gun control and campus safety to the forefront of the Emory discourse. Last Wednesday, College Council denied the College Republicans funding to help pay for a trip to a local shooting range. The College Republicans said they hoped the trip would promote safe and responsible gun handling and ownership. College Council legislators say they withheld the funds due to safety concerns, even going so far as to propose an amendment to the organization's monetary code prohibiting the use of College Council funds to purchase or rent firearms and ammunition. Generally speaking, we believe College Council should be able to fund activities like a trip to the shooting range. Shooting is a sport recognized by the NCAA, and shooting range sessions monitored by professionals are exceedingly safe. Amending the monetary code to prevent such trips is unwarranted. It's unfortunate that the shootings at Virginia Tech took place just weeks before the scheduled date for the trip, but given that the College Republicans had been planning this event for quite some time, we don't believe the shootings are an adequate reason for the trip to be cancelled. Although some could perceive the trip as insensitive, there is still an immense difference between safely firing a gun at a target and using a gun to commit mass murder. If the College Republicans want to take a trip to the shooting range, then they should receive the same support given to any other group. What we cannot condone is the College Republicans' plan to request permission from University President James W. Wagner to carry concealed weapons on campus. This idea was proposed by nationally syndicated radio host Lars Larson on whose show Tittsworth appeared to discuss the Council's decision to deny funding. Under current Georgia law, it is illegal …
creator: Editorial Staff
date: 2007-07-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: "Christopher H. Megerian" <cmegeri@LearnLink.Emory.Edu>
language: eng

Administration: Emory to Open Crisis Office
description: By: Susan McMillan Issue date: 4/24/07 Section: News Emory will establish an Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response to coordinate responses to catastrophic events, University officials announced Thursday. The office, CEPAR, will report directly to University President James W. Wagner. Although the announcement about CEPAR comes close on the heels of last week's shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, its director, Alexander Isakov, said the timing is coincidental. "What brought this to the foreground was the University's effort in the fall of 2005 to address the challenges of a pandemic strain of influenza," said Isakov, an associate professor of emergency medicine. The office was recommended by the Avian Influenza Task Force, which evaluated Emory's ability to respond to a flu pandemic, and it was first officially proposed in January 2006. CEPAR will also work on drawing up plans to deal with natural disasters, campus violence, disease outbreak and other situations. Isakov will assume his new position on May 1, and funding for the office begins Sept. 1, the start of the University's fiscal year. He said the staff of CEPAR will identify current emergency response plans in place across Emory's divisions and coordinate them to eliminate duplication. By making planning more efficient and cohesive, Isakov said, the University can ensure more effective responses to catastrophic events. In addition, by bringing together Emory's emergency planning and response functions, CEPAR will be able to serve as a "central command and control center" in the case of a crisis, Isakov said. Emory also plans to enhance its emergency notification systems with a handful of new technologies, Emory Police Department Chief Craig Watson said. He said the timing of the announcement of the enhancements is also coincidental, since they emerged as recommendations from a task force last fall. "We've been working on this for quite a while now," Watson said. One suggestion was a siren and publ…
creator: Susan McMillan
date: 2007-07-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: "Christopher H. Megerian" <cmegeri@LearnLink.Emory.Edu>
language: eng

Korean Students Shouldn't Have to Fear Backlash
description: By: Martha Kim Issue date: 4/24/07 Section: Letters to the Editor To the editor: As a Korean-American, I am appalled at the media's focus on the fact that the Virginia Tech killer was a "resident alien" from South Korea, even though he has lived in the U.S. for 15 of his 23 years of life. Had Cho Seung-Hui been born in a Western European country, his nationality would not have been a focal point of the news coverage. I feel that Koreans in America, or even those in Korea, should not feel the need or obligation to apologize for the actions of one man. Cho did not speak or act on behalf of Koreans everywhere, and he most certainly does not represent the attitudes Koreans have. My parents emigrated from Korea and many of my friends are also the children of Korean immigrants, yet none of us feel any desire to repeat what this man has done. So why should the Korean community in America fear a backlash? Should this group feel the need to make amends for a stranger's actions? As a Virginian, I grieve with the families and peers of the victims. I have many friends who attend Virginia Tech, and I was terrified for their well-being, both physically and psychologically, upon hearing the news. But I did not feel the necessity to apologize for his deeds. Had he been from Kansas, should all residents of Kansas have felt compelled to apologize? Yes, he was a resident alien from Korea who was socially inept and shunned by his classmates, but there are other aspects of his character that should be addressed instead of his ethnicity, such as the fact that he was mentally ill or that he was suicidal. We should be focused on recognizing signals of a troubled person and preparing to handle it appropriately instead of hounding on his race. I felt no shame to be Korean after this incident. Why does the world insist that I must? Martha Kim Class of 2010 -- Original Source:Emory Wheel - April 24, 2007
creator: Martha Kim
publisher: Emory Wheel
date: 2007-07-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: "Christopher H. Megerian" <cmegeri@LearnLink.Emory.Edu>
language: eng

Well-wishers react to Va. shooting
description: By Allie Lowe, The Dartmouth Staff April 17, 2007 Braving the rain and wind, approximately 100 members of the Dartmouth community gathered on Collis porch Monday night to recognize the individuals killed in that morning's shootings at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. The two shootings, the first of which occurred in a dormitory and the second in a classroom building, took place two hours apart and left 32, plus the gunman, dead. The event marks the most deadly shooting in U.S. history. Monday night's vigil was organized by Haley Morris '08 and Heather Strack '07. Morris first had the idea to plan the event after receiving word of the events in an e-mail sent to her sorority, Sigma Delta. "These are our peers in another institution and I thought that they shouldn't be alone right now," Morris said. Other campus organizations, including the Tucker Foundation, the Panhellenic Council and several Greek houses, provided funding and support. "This event was really pulled together by an interesting network of Blitzing," Strack said. "In an hour, it was done." At the ceremony, Strack and Morris read excerpts from an e-mail received from Julie Walters Steele of Virginia Tech's Unions and Student Activities office, thanking Dartmouth for its support. Following a brief moment of silence, the Ladies of Logos, an a cappella group comprised of members of the Gospel Choir, sang to the crowd. "I'm really proud of Dartmouth," RuDee Lipscomb '08, a member of the Ladies of Logos, said. "[This event] restores your faith in the College." After the event, students were invited to sign several large cards which will remain in Collis during the day tomorrow, and then be sent to Virginia Tech on Wednesday. Dean of the College Dan Nelson characterized the administration's reaction to the event as "one of profound sorrow and shock." "It's hard to imagine how any community deals with such a shocking, senseless, awful tragedy," Nelson said. Though he emphasized Dartmouth's safety, Nelson said t…
creator: Allie Lowe
date: 2007-07-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: "Edward D. Kalletta III" <publisher@thedartmouth.com>
language: eng

Dartmouth Responds
description: A participant in Monday night's vigil ceremony, sporting a Virginia Tech hat, signs a giant card in Collis Cafe. It will be sent to the university Wednesday. Photo: Maggie Goldstein/The Dartmouth Staff Reprinted with the permission of The Dartmouth
creator: Maggie Goldstein
date: 2007-07-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: "Edward D. Kalletta III" <publisher@thedartmouth.com>
language: eng

Va. Tech and the N.H. primary
description: By THE DARTMOUTH EDITORIAL BOARD, Published on Friday, April 20, 2007 There is no easy answer to the question, What could have prevented the Virginia Tech massacre? Perhaps nothing could have been done. However, gun violence occurs every day across America and the ready availability of guns exacerbates the problem. After Ali Abu Kamal shot and killed seven atop the Empire State Building 10 years ago, then-New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani called for Congress to "do more" in monitoring the ownership of guns in this country. It is unfortunate that it takes tragedies of these magnitudes to jumpstart conversation about gun control, but gun control has been an issue long before the events in Blacksburg or Columbine or New York City. It is our hope that the heinous acts of one man on one college campus will awaken college students at Dartmouth and across the country to force this issue to the forefront of the national political arena - and that it stays there. It's easy to present statistics seemingly demonstrating that the presence of handguns either increases or decreases senseless deaths. One thing is for sure: The debate here hinges on safety and the prevention of violence - not the peripheral goals of hunters and the gun industry. Guns are an unfortunate part of the American tradition. No one can seriously suggest that arming students or classrooms would be valid measures to combat violence. The non-sporting arguments against gun control contend that citizens should have the right to have firearms in their home to protect against intruders. No reasonable individual thinks people should carry weapons around. A rational measure that could help prevent another Virginia Tech massacre would be the institution of more in-depth checks and restrictions on those who want to purchase guns. As for the Dartmouth community, we are in a unique position. Every presidential candidate who is serious about winning the White House will be visiting Dartmouth in the coming months. When the…
creator: Editorial Staff
publisher: The Dartmouth
date: 2007-07-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: "Edward D. Kalletta III" <publisher@thedartmouth.com>
language: eng

Lessons from Blacksburg
description: By Richard Crocker, College Chaplain Friday, April 20, 2007 To the Editor: We mourn the deaths of students and faculty at Virginia Tech ("Virginia Tech gunman kills 32 in bloodbath," April 17). It is appropriate and natural that we should do so. We identify with the victims and their friends and families, because they are like us. They are students and staff at a university in a very pastoral location. Our own sense of security is threatened by this violence. Already, in e-mails and blogs, I am hearing calls for greater college security, ranging from arming campus police to allowing students to arm themselves. Our sense of invulnerability at Dartmouth has, despite some very tragic events, remained rather strong. Last year I attended my son's graduation from a college in New York City; all guests went through metal detectors and had their belongings examined. This is, of course, a great contrast to the Dartmouth graduation. While I understand that conversations about campus security will inevitably, and perhaps productively, occur, I hope that one important fact does not get ignored: senseless violence is horrible wherever it occurs, whether in Darfur or Israel or Palestine or Iraq. The deaths at Virginia Tech are devastating, but their number is a fraction of those being killed daily in Iraq or Darfur. This does not mean that we should grieve these students' deaths less; rather, it means that we should grieve all violent deaths more. And, unless our grief produces opposition to violence, it is futile. Every life lost at Virginia Tech was precious; the loss is incalculable. But every life lost to violence anywhere is equally precious. Let us remember, and speak. -- Original Source: The Dartmouth - April 20, 2007 Reprinted with the permission of The Dartmouth
creator: Richard Crocker
date: 2007-07-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: "Edward D. Kalletta III" <publisher@thedartmouth.com>
language: eng

Burruss Hall
description: The flag flies at half staff. Orginial Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/soilrocks/468956644/in/photostream/ Photo courtesy of Jarrod Miller
creator: Jarrod Miller
date: 2007-07-11
contributor: Chad Newswander
rights: Permission: Jarrod Miller Jarrod@uky.edu
language: eng

VT support sign
description: Squires Student Center is filled with posters, message boards, flowers, and other items that universities, businesses, and other places around the country have sent to Virginia Tech. Orginial Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/soilrocks/468955758/in/photostream/ Photo courtesy of Jarrod Miller
creator: Jarrod Miller
date: 2007-07-11
contributor: Chad Newswander
rights: Permission: Jarrod Miller Jarrod@uky.edu
language: eng